Good evening everyone. Im kate bolduan in for erin burnett tonight. An urgent plea to the nations governors. People need to wear a mask. That is the clear and direct message from the Vice President , dr. Anthony fauci, and dr. Debra birx today in a call to governors. What then will we hear from the president who announced today he is resuming his version of the White House Task force briefing . As we speak, 31 states are heading in the wrong direction. The death rate also now increasing in 20 states. But is that why the briefings are returning . Youre left to wonder, because this is what the president said. I was doing them and we had a lot of people watching, record numbers watching. In the history of cable television, television theres never been anything like it. I think well start that probably starting tomorrow. Ill do it at 5 00 like we were doing. We had a good slot. And a lot of people were watching. Bring back the briefings. He mentioned the hot spots of florida and texas, but did he once again let that inside voice come out . That for him, its really about the ratings. He also said this. I think its a great way to get information out to the public. Reporter the briefings were a great way to get information out to the public when the doctors were leading them for sure. But when the president started taking over, you will remember he used the time to push dangerous claims, conspiracy theories, and lies. Hydroxychloroquine, which as i think, you know its a great malaria drug. What do you have to lose . They say take it. Certain sections of the country are in phenomenal shape already. Other sections are coming online. Other sections are going down. Supposing we hit the body with a tremendous whether it is ultra violet or just very powerful light. And i think you said that hasnt been checked but youre going to test it. Then i said supposing you brought the light inside the body which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. Then i see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. Is there a way we can do Something Like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning . Shortly after that doozie those briefings stopped. And since then the crisis has only worsened. The number of people infected now surpassing 3. 8 million and the number of people who have died nearly 141,000. The key to slowing the surge according to the White House Task force, masks. Debra birx even telling the governors today if 100 of the population wore masks and limited indoor gatherings and closed down bars the result would nearly replicate sheltering in place. Far short of that but acknowledging reality the president tweeting this image of himself wearing a mask today suggesting it is a patriotic thing to do. Well go outfront live outside the white house now. You have new reporting on what is actually driving this change from the president , not the death rate increasing in this deepening crisis. No. Because Health Experts have been talking about these concerning numbers for several weeks now. Theyve been going through all of this data during the Task Force Meetings happening here at the white house. What we are told by several sources is it is the president s poll numbers that finally made him realize he needed to change tactics here because basically Campaign Aides were telling the president that even our internal numbers do not look good for you when it comes to how americans are judging the response to you and how youve handled coronavirus so far. That has led to the president s change of heart on masks now encouraging people to wear them. It is a Welcome Change inside the white house. They have been fighting with him for months to get him to wear a mask. They dont care how he got here theyre just happy he finally got here. It is july 20th and the cdc back on april 3rd came out and said americans should be Wearing Masks, changing some guidance that you heard from Health Officials inside the administration before. So the big question with the president returning to his briefings where he is at the helm is what they are going to look like because the president didnt specify tonight whether those Health Officials would come with him. He did say he wants to focus on Vaccine Development, th therapeutics because aides have been saying you shouldnt go out unless there is good news to share. Expect that to be a focus. Of course the question and the fear that some advisers have is that will turn into those briefings you saw in april where he suggested things like using disinfectants to try to treat coronavirus. That is what people will be watching for tomorrow when the president comes out at 5 00. Does he do what some people are hopeful, just take a few questions and then let the experts do the talking or does it go back to what weve been seeing at the height of these numbers which we are now seeing again. We should note the president has not attended a task force briefing. Theres only been two since the last several months. So might be surprised to hear what the facts are if he listens. Well see. Thank you so much. Outfront with me dr. Sanjay gupta and dr. Reiner the director of the katherine lab at George Washington medical hospital and also advised the medical team under president george w. Bush. He said the briefings are a great way to get information out to the public. Everyone would agree. That is the whole point was to get information out to the public if they could stay on the same page meaning the president. But then we played the president s greatest hits from Task Force Briefings in the past. Do you think there is a benefit to having him restarting these briefings now . Yes. If you take everything in total i think there is a benefit because when the briefings stopped, kate, for a lot of people it felt like this thing was over. It obviously has to come with the caveats and it was lieaid o pretty well. We want good scientific information going out and the level of seriousness, the gravity this requires. So overall its a good idea but has to be done differently obviously. It is a good sign he is wearing a mask. All of these things have to come together. I think the Task Force Briefings to have the most impact. There are good things happening with therapeutics and Vaccine Development but you have to talk about the very Serious Problems that are happening to get even close to anywhere near that. I mean, dr. Reiner, we can put up the tweet again of the president wearing a mask and he says, his words, many people say that it is patriotic to wear a mask when you cant socially distance. I dont think anyone would call that a profile in courage in that statement but do you think the president is finally understanding how bad things are . I think the president is finally understanding how bad the polls are. I dont think he is reacting to the real carnage occurring across the United States. I think he is reacting to his plummeting poll numbers. The Coronavirus Task force, actually the cdc recommended as you said masks that the public wear masks on april 3rd. Thats 108 days. On april 3rd there were 7600 deaths in the United States and 280,000 cases. Since then over 130,000 more people have died. Thats whats happened in the span of the initial recommendation and now this super lukewarm endorsement by the president. In his fox news interview yesterday the president really said masks cause problems, too. So what is it . Lets have it, an unequivocal announcement from the president. Even better how about an executive order requiring americans to wear masks when in public . Lets remove all doubt about what you mean about patriotic duty. Say it directly. All americans should wear masks in public. If 95 of americans started to wear masks between now and november 1st when the ihme estimates that over 220,000 americans will have been killed by this virus, 95 of americans Wearing Masks will reduce that by about 40,000. 40,000 lives can be saved. The president comes out and says, everybody wears a mask. Do it. And another thing, sanjay. Im glad you brought up that interview with chris wallis. Another thing the president said in that interview is he called dr. Fauci, he put it, he called him a bit of an alarmist. You speak very frequently to dr. Fauci and many people at the cdc. Do you agree with that assessment that dr. Fauci is an alarmist . No. I really dont. I dont want to be equivocal here. In some ways i have to say i wish dr. Fauci were even, i wouldnt say more alarmist. Ill say it. More of an alarmist. Yeah. I mean, he is very measured. Right . He is a scientist. Very measured in the way that he speaks. I think the most alarming i think weve heard something from dr. Fauci was when he said, look. There is likely to be a hundred thousand, you know, people who are contracting this virus by whatever date. Now it is looking like he was very much right. I think all along he has sort of tried to make sure that he was giving this message in a way that could be palatable, which i understand. He is a doctor. He is trying to sort of balance this hope and honesty, but alarmist is not the word i would use at all. I think that he in some ways probably needs to be even more aggressive sometimes in language because people do listen to him. And if he pulls a punch a little bit theyll say well look. He is pulling a punch. Its not that big a deechlt i think he definitely has to be out there being very forceful in terms of how he is presenting these things. That does not help the president if he really wants to get information out to continue diminishing, in some way disparaging the top Infectious Disease expert we have in the country. Dr. Reiner, the president also, you pointed out some of the incorrect things he said in that interview but he also went again to he completely pushed incorrect views on basic science or he doesnt understand it or he doesnt care to again. You get more cases because you are testing more people is just one example but then he also said this. That really stuck out to me. Listen to this. Ill be right eventually. I will be right eventually. I said, it is going to disappear. Ill say it again. Chris wallis kind of laughed at it. Im not sure if it is funny at all. What kind of answer is that from the president of the United States that eventually im going to be right about the whole thing that the virus is going to disappear when you are smack dab in the middle of the crisis . Sanjay would remember this model we have in medicine. Eventually all bleeding stops. Occasionally in a way that is not good for the patient. Yeah, eventually this virus will go away. The question is what is the toll going to be . You know, will anyone be able toe really explain how this president of the United States can essentially laugh about being wrong so many times . From the beginning of this pandemic the president has spouted a series of factually incorrect or magical thinking or outright lies over and over again. So i agree with sanjay. I look forward to the Task Force Meetings being televised but i want to hear the truth. I want to hear only the truth. I want to hear the truth from people who understand it. If the president can do that, great. I welcome that. Welcome to the team, mr. President. But i only want to hear the truth. Sanjay, the missouri governor said something today i want to ask you about that he was saying the state has to move forward with sending kids back to school. This is how he put it. Theyre at the lowest risk possible and if they do get covid theyre going to go home and get over it. But there is also new research that kids over 10 spread the virus as easily as adults. Do we know enough about children and this disease to make that call . I dont think we do yet. This is something weve been doing some deep reporting on, kate, trying to really understand, a, how sick do children get . I think that data has been holding up. They are less likely to get sick as compared to adults but in transmissibility even as i look at the new study from south korea i think it is a bit of an open question. Let me show you missouri real quick. I think that you have to look at what is happening in the community to really get a good idea of whether you should open. These numbers dont look good. They had their highest sevenday average just over the past seven days. If your community is growing in terms of overall virus spread, i think its going to be hard to open up schools. Im not so sure that younger kids definitively transmit less. I think it is still a bit of an open question. Great to see you both. Thank you. Up next encouraging news in the race for a vaccine one trial reporting safe and promising early results. Does this mean we are close to a vaccine . Ill talk to one of the lead researchers working on that vaccine. Plus four hospitals in Broward County, florida are now at 100 capacity for icu beds. Well talk to the countys mayor about whether he is seeing any sign of improvement. And dr. Sanjay gupta will be back with a special report on what is being done to help stop the disease. Usaa is made for whats next were helping members catch up by spreading any missed usaa insurance payments over the next twelve months so they can keep more cash in your pockets for when it matters most find out more at usaa. Com now every bath fitter bathbath fis installed quickly, safely, and beautifully, with a lifetime warranty. Go from old to new. From worn to wow. The beautiful bath youve always wanted, done right, installed by one expert technician, all in one day. Weve been creating moments like these for 35 years, and were here to help you get started. Book your free virtual or inhome Design Consultation today. Wow. Jim could you ipop the hood for us . . There she is. Turbocharged, right . Yes it is. Jim, could you uh kick the tires . Oh yes. Can you change the color inside the car . Oh sure. How about blue . Thats more cyan but. Jump in the back seat, jim. Act like my kids. How much longer . Exactly how they sound. Its got massaging seats too, right . Oh yeahhhhh. Oh yeahhhhh. Visit the mercedesbenz summer event or shop online at participating dealers. Get 0 apr financing up to 36 months on select new and certified preowned models. Just swap your sim card you can also keep your phone, keep your network, keep your number, 20 a month, no contract. Dont keep that case though. Available 24 7 at tracfone. Com tracfone wireless. Dont keep that case try wayf r. You got this perfect. Youre welcome. I love it. Howd you do all this . Told ya wayfair. Lets talk dining tables. Yes blow it up. Wayfair youve got just what i need tonight the race for a vaccine. Three of the worlds leading candidates reporting positive, early trial results and the major headline coming from the university of oxford which found its vaccine is safe so far and induces an immune response. Out front now professor adrian hill one of the lead researchers working on the vaccine at oxford. Thank you so much for being here, professor. Appreciate your time. Lay out for us the promising signs you are seeing with your vaccine. What weve reported today in the lancet is a new data set on the phase one trial at our vaccine meaning just over a thousand people. Firstly the safety data looks very reassuring in all of those individuals. No serious adverse events, nothing of significant concern. And then when we look at the immune responses they are present in everybody. We see good, neutralizing antibodies. These are the ones we are looking for that should inhibit the infection of the virus into cells. In addition we see the cellular arm, usually called tcells, which are there in large numbers as well even after a single dose of the vaccine. So really, results at the high end of our expectations. So we are now moving forward. Weve vaccinated around about 10,000 people in trials so far. We are following those for efficacy to see if the vaccine really works. Right. So now you charge into phase three with trials in the uk, brazil, and south africa under way. Can you say how much closer you are now to a final vaccine . Well, i should add that the largest trial should start soon and that is actually in the u. S. So were hoping that will be under way in the next two or three weeks. How close we are depends of course on the incidence of infection in the trial population. That is relatively low in the uk but high in south africa and high in brazil and we anticipate that some of the states we work in in the u. S. , the infection rates will be high as well. So it is very difficult to call. It could be september. Could be october. Nobody really knows. Were certainly hoping for this year. Still hoping for this year. The big unknown is how strong the immunity is and how long it lasts. When do you think you will have an answer to that with your vaccine . Yeah, of those two questions, when are the immune responses Strong Enough to protect people with high efficacy is really the key question. In terms of how long it will last, we are less concerned. Weve used this vaccine type before. Immunity is durable certainly for a year, probably for longer than that. So that is much less of a risk. The real question nobody can answer is are the immune responses we and some other groups are seeing actually Strong Enough, potent enough to stop this infection from happening and to protect people . Based on what weve seen in animal data the answer is probably yes but humans could be different. The record breaking pace at which you and other developers are working is so comforting to so many as vaccine is really the only way out of this global crisis. What do you say to people who are concerned that it is all moving too fast . So much faster than other Vaccine Development has gone in the past that speed could compromise safety . What do you say to that . Well, i think we can reassure those people along these lines. We are not actually doing anything different to what we would traditionally do in Vaccine Development. Yes, we are moving faster but all the checks and balances in the system are being observed, stringent regulation review, data safety monitoring committee